This Pink Diamond Just Broke a World Record

The largest and finest Fancy Vivid Pink diamond ever offered at auction by Christie's sold for $50.375 million, setting a world record price per carat for a pink diamond and far exceeding the expected $30 million price tag.

Renowned jewelry house Harry Winston placed the winning bid. Rahul Kadakia, Christie's International Head of Jewellery, said the stone had "taken its rightful place among the world's greatest diamonds" and would be renamed the Winston Pink Legacy.

IMAGE COURTESY CHRISTIE'S

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Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewellery, selling the Winston Pink Legacy diamond for $50,375,000 achieving a world auction record price per carat for a pink diamond

The gem previously belonged to the Oppenheimer family, which oversaw the De Beers diamond empire.According to the BBC, the rectangular-cut stone was found in a South African mine a century ago and has probably not been altered since it was first cut in 1920.

As colored diamonds have increased in popularity, they have fetched dramatic prices in recent years. Last year at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, the Pink Star—the largest internally flawless Fancy Vivid Pink diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, weighing 59.60 carats— sold for a whopping $71.2 million. And before that, the record price for a pink diamond was $46.2 million, achieved by the 24.78-carat Graff Pink.

IMAGE COURTESY CHRISTIE'S

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The Winston Pink Legacy Diamond

In 2016, Christie’s also auctioned theOppenheimer Blue diamond—which belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, former chairman of the De Beers diamond company—for $57.8 million. Because only one mine in the world produces blue diamonds, they are one of the rarest types of diamonds and therefore some of the most valuable.

Over 30,000 people visited Christie'sMagnificent Jewelssale previews, held in Geneva, to get a glimpse of the Winston Pink Legacy before it was auctioned off. The diamond also traveled on exhibition to London, Hong Kong, and New York in advance of the auction.